How do you improve your Sight Reading?

Music is a language that is universal. It brings people together based on musical capabilities and not their background or even the language they speak. Large musical and cultural events require musicians to possess a certain skill set of the highest quality. In order to be better, one has to practice it. In the case of music, you need to practice playing it or singing it.

Sight reading is a skill set that music students are required to practice.

1. What is Sight Reading?

Sight Reading means the ability to perform a musical piece that you’ve not played before or have played but can’t play it by memory.

is an important skill set as you don’t have to rely on your memory to play it. And it’s also important to get certifications as this is the universally accepted written language of music.

It is an important supporting test conducted by nearly all music exam boards, music conservatories, colleges, and even music organizations from as simple as passing a grade/level to getting a job as a musician.

2. Why is Sight Reading Difficult?

Let’s be honest here…sight reading IS difficult.

As pianists, you have to see two lines simultaneously, play melody on one hand, accompaniment on the other, and keep leaping around the keyboard to ensure you don’t miss a beat.

The difficulty of a practical skill set like sight reading or improvisation is the uncertainty of whether it was correct as the passage is unknown and having no reference point can be mentally taxing. This requires us to actually recall sound and trust that the notes are correct.

But learning sight-reading is POSSIBLE.

Like any other skill, it requires consistent practice and patience, and overcoming the fear of sight reading.

3. Tips to Improve Sight Reading

i. Breathe

When one becomes fearful, one tend to tighten their breathe and forget to breathe. This is specially important for singers. Because you need to have constant breath flow to sing well. That’s why it’s highly important to practice breathing exercises to keep yourself calm.

ii. Think

The next step is to have a process in place when working with unknown music. Few questions one need to ask themselves:

a. Keys, key signatures and accidentals

People most often forget about the key signature. So try working with easier key signatures and build it up. In case for piano, work in from the key of C major to F# major. It would be beneficial if you could know their keys and their key signatures. A certain amount of knowledge about scales is required for this.

b. Rhythm patterns and melodic sequences

Look for rhythm patterns and sequences. They can make it easier to play music.

c. Technical characteristics

As we move higher on the difficulty level, there are certain technical characteristics that need to be noted, be it a scale passage or a broken chord. This includes large jumps or unusual finger turns.

d. Dynamics, articulation and tempo

In this sequence, playing the noted dynamics and articulation adds to the musicality. And although observing the tempo is good but not at the expense of compromising musical sensibilities. Notation accuracy, fluency, technical facilities and interpretation are the general parameters and tempo is mere part under interpretation. So if the passage is to be played quickly but there are certain technical challenges that will hamper your overall performance, better choose a tempo that you are comfortable with.

e. Music as a whole

To get better at reading, we need to stop breaking the grand staff into two parts: treble and bass clef, and understand the music as a whole. In the case of pianists or keyboardists, it's a general misconception that the left hand is weaker. The left hand is weaker because we don't use it often in our daily lives or even in music. Secondly, practice reading the bass clef more often and first, rather than looking into the treble clef. Lastly and most importantly, play them together.

iii. Practice

The last step would be to practice, practice, and practice. The internet is full of resources available with different music at different levels. Explore and read more.

Recommendations for practice books for sight reading:

a. Improve your sight reading!!! (series) By Paul Harris

Use this book in sequence. The exercises are progressive and allow the students to think about the various features of an exercise. Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=improve+your+sight+reading&crid=1UTO3J0DIWJI4&sprefix=improve+you%2Caps%2C289&ref=nb_sb_ss_pltr-sample-20_1_11

b. Dozen a day by Edna Mae Burman

This is a finger exercise book but its an excellent for sight reading as well. Because it explains different technical characteristics that could be used in a piece with a given scale, be it arpeggiated chord or a running scale passage.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dozen+a+day+book+1&crid=3I0YS2CJS273P&sprefix=dozen+a+%2Caps%2C286&ref=nb_sb_ss_pltr-sample-20_1_8

c. Sound at sight (Trinity College London)

Trinity College London is an examination board based in London. They have been offering exams in Music, Drama, and Communication skills since 1872. They also have a number of books published, both for exams and supporting resources. Sound at sight is one of supporting resources published in order to encourage and improve students in their sight reading skill set. The book moves progressively in grades in accordance with the parameters set for the sight reading tests that are taken during the exams.

https://store.trinitycollege.com/collections/piano-exam-support-material

d. Sight reading for Piano (Trinity College London)

Another series of books published by Trinity College London to support students appearing for the exams. The book moves progressively in accordance with parameters set for each grade.